This is the tale of the one that actually got away.
Riding home last week, I went my usual way to get home via, Blok M plaza, Polim and then towards Tendean and then home.
Somewhere very near Kemang, I was in a huge line of motorbikes, when all of a sudden everyone started backing up and begin pushing me out of the way. Unbeknown to me, there was a policeman hiding behind one of the new flyover struts and was taking motorbike keys out of ignitions, and then all of a sudden, my key also went.
Handing over my STNK, I got my keys back and was told to go left somewhere. Following the other 'caught' riders I did that and waited my turn with the police.
It appears that I was in the wrong part of the road, alongside 50 other riders and that was dangerous and illegal and so I was to be fined for that.
Anyway, so I stand about and watch the police talk to the riders who had passed over their licence as well and the negotiations began. One rider, just handed 100,000k over and left, another handed his SIM and then was given a receipt and left. I was told to sit down.
Asked if I spoke Indonesian, I said no. This seemed to confuse the policemen and they kept talking to me in Indonesian and asking me to sign the form. Looking at the form, I asked where the police station was and they said Kemang somewhere, and I asked for a map. Silence. I then asked what time, and they said 9am. I said 7am as I had to go to work. Silence. They then asked me to pay 100,000 which was one of the amounts also printed on their form and to sign the form. It being dark, I said I could not read it. They were looking not too impressed with this. Another policeman then asked for 200,000 and I said I had no money and where was the ATM. Silence. I pointed at the form and it stated 4 amounts: 100,000, 250,000, 500,000 and 1 million. So I asked why I needed to pay 200,000. The policeman showed me the back of the form which meant absolutely nothing to me.
I asked which amount they needed me to pay as they were all different figures. With the policemen talking at me, I pulled out a piece of paper and a pen and asked for their names and numbers so I could discuss this with their superior. Silence. They seemed to look annoyed now.
Still being asked if I spoke Indonesian, I asked if they spoke English. Which they said ' we speeek no Engleesh' and so back to square one.
After a few more minutes of hopeless determination, one of the policeman explained riding was dangerous and had to be careful and so I acknowledged that and then pointed out to them a bus with no lights and several riders with no helmets. Silence.
I was then asked what I wanted. 'To go home because I am hungry' was my reply.
At this point, I could see that the police were finally giving up with me and so gave me my SIM and STNK back and let me go.
I smiled at the rider waiting as I left and got on my bike and headed back into the traffic.
A lessoned learnt for sure, and I will always be vigilant on my travels. I am not knocking the police for what happened as I know if they spoke English it would have been a different matter.
Riding home last week, I went my usual way to get home via, Blok M plaza, Polim and then towards Tendean and then home.
Somewhere very near Kemang, I was in a huge line of motorbikes, when all of a sudden everyone started backing up and begin pushing me out of the way. Unbeknown to me, there was a policeman hiding behind one of the new flyover struts and was taking motorbike keys out of ignitions, and then all of a sudden, my key also went.
Handing over my STNK, I got my keys back and was told to go left somewhere. Following the other 'caught' riders I did that and waited my turn with the police.
It appears that I was in the wrong part of the road, alongside 50 other riders and that was dangerous and illegal and so I was to be fined for that.
Anyway, so I stand about and watch the police talk to the riders who had passed over their licence as well and the negotiations began. One rider, just handed 100,000k over and left, another handed his SIM and then was given a receipt and left. I was told to sit down.
Asked if I spoke Indonesian, I said no. This seemed to confuse the policemen and they kept talking to me in Indonesian and asking me to sign the form. Looking at the form, I asked where the police station was and they said Kemang somewhere, and I asked for a map. Silence. I then asked what time, and they said 9am. I said 7am as I had to go to work. Silence. They then asked me to pay 100,000 which was one of the amounts also printed on their form and to sign the form. It being dark, I said I could not read it. They were looking not too impressed with this. Another policeman then asked for 200,000 and I said I had no money and where was the ATM. Silence. I pointed at the form and it stated 4 amounts: 100,000, 250,000, 500,000 and 1 million. So I asked why I needed to pay 200,000. The policeman showed me the back of the form which meant absolutely nothing to me.
I asked which amount they needed me to pay as they were all different figures. With the policemen talking at me, I pulled out a piece of paper and a pen and asked for their names and numbers so I could discuss this with their superior. Silence. They seemed to look annoyed now.
Still being asked if I spoke Indonesian, I asked if they spoke English. Which they said ' we speeek no Engleesh' and so back to square one.
After a few more minutes of hopeless determination, one of the policeman explained riding was dangerous and had to be careful and so I acknowledged that and then pointed out to them a bus with no lights and several riders with no helmets. Silence.
I was then asked what I wanted. 'To go home because I am hungry' was my reply.
At this point, I could see that the police were finally giving up with me and so gave me my SIM and STNK back and let me go.
I smiled at the rider waiting as I left and got on my bike and headed back into the traffic.
A lessoned learnt for sure, and I will always be vigilant on my travels. I am not knocking the police for what happened as I know if they spoke English it would have been a different matter.
3 comments:
I wish I had the balls you have for stuff like that. It's a rare day I can sit quietly and wait for others to shoot themsleves in the foot :0)
Does the theme has to do with your education or perhaps is it mostly about your hobbies and ways to spend your leisure time?
Hi SRS, With practice I know you can do it.
@HeadUpNoRegrets, I am sorry but I am not sure what you are trying to say.
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